buried secrets

who built this ancient Egyptian monument. A huge stone lion loons one the  passing boast on Egypt's nile rive. It serves as giant  guardian to some of the county's  famous  pyramids human make  tombs that seem to stretch all the way to  the sun. The ancient sand colored statue known as the Sphinx is as tall as the white house with paws longer that  a city bus. How many hidden chambers are inside Scientists are still digging up clues to answer  that question but they might lave an answer for one the monument's biggest mysteries who built it. set in stone In ancient Egypt people  worshipped  sphinxes  as mythical creatures with  the  power to ward off evil some think the sphinx was built as protector of the pyramids which were once used as  burial places for Egyptian kings nobody's  sure  when the sphinx was built but experts believe it was already ancient when Egyptian queen cleopatra saw it around 47.b.c. since  than many other historical figures have visited the monument  but which historical fugue  built the monument. Face off  historians' tow top  suspects are pharaoh  knufu who ruled Egypt  from  2589 b.c. to 2566 b.c. and his son  pharaoh khafre who reigned from 588 b.c.to 2532 b.c. Must experts  agree that one of these rulers oversaw the  construction of the statue and had his own face  carved atop the giant lion but which one was it khufu or khafre. They say the statue's face matches sculpture  of the king discovered in 1903. but most experts including  Egyptologist mark leaner  think  khufu's son khafre built the sphinx as father and son the pair shared a resemblance. But Lehner says the most convincing evidence lis in a temple that was built in front of the statue  leahner  believes that  the temple  and the sphinx are part of the same  master building  plan overseen by person. Ancient workers built the temple on top of part another structure that's  been proven to be the  word of khafre  lehner believes that this means  the sphinx  and it temple must  have been constructed after   khafre,s first structure was build khufu wouldn't have been around to build on top of khafre's lower structure  to me that strong evidence that the sphinx couldn't  have khufu,s lehner says. disappearing  act  Today the ancient Egyptians work is crumbling centuries  of wind and bather have ground  away at the sphinx's limestone and shifting  sands have threatened to cove much of it Archaeologist work tirelessly to repair the structure to keep it from completely  disappointing. By preserving  the sphinx  experts are also protecting clues might still be hidden in the statue,s stone someday these  could be the keys that unlock even  more sphinx's secrets. historian think the sphinx  might've looked like this before wind and water wore away its colors. his sphinx  near six pyramids including the  great pyramid  of giza. the statue wasn't  fully uncovered until  1939 about 7o year after this pic was taken. Egypt,s nile river it the world's  river flowing over 4.400 miles (7,081km )through eastern Africa early Egyptiantains named there  hemet or black land fro it rich rive mud in Egypt camels are called ship of the desert like ship they carry goods and people.  from called book  national geographic kids almanac.